This year one of the best footlocker specialists Mikey Musumeci shook the BJJ world with The Mikey Lock. A brand new move that he used to submit Richard Alarcon in this year’s “Who’s Number One” tournament. This new technique combines the ankle-twisting of a heel hook with the devastating knee pressure of a kneebar.
Instead of placing his opponent’s foot under his armpit, Mikey Musumeci places it in what he has called his “neck pit”. Hugging the leg and pressuring it sideways with his hips while trapping the leg with his hands and head. This puts a lot of pressure on the knee and the ankle and because of its effectiveness and how new it is everyone in the BJJ community is now talking about the Mikey lock.
How did Mikey Musumeci come up with the Mikey Lock?
During a session with BJJ Fannatics’s Bernardo Faria Mikey said that the Mikey Lock came to him as a result of closely studying the mechanics of heel hooks. Mikey Musumeci has always been a guy who can break down the most complicated technique to its simplest form. The man is a true scientist when it comes to BJJ and particularly leg locks.
As a result of this, he realized that by controlling his opponent’s foot with his head instead of his armpit and using his hips to apply pressure on the knee he could get a lot more leverage, and thus the Mikey lock was born.
Mikey Musumeci about his leg lock
When asked about it at the WNO tournament he stated that there is no counter to this move so it is a submission with a very high finishing rate.
However, Mikey Musumeci should not rest on his laurels just yet and I believe he knows this. Because the pace of evolution in BJJ is unbelievable and very soon people will start coming up with ways to not only counter the Mikey Lock but also create long chains of attacks off of it. Just like it has happened with many other moves throughout the evolution and growth of BJJ.
If anything the Mikey Lock is a testament to the rapid rate of change and evolution in today’s BJJ. So right now we all should be looking to learn this powerful leg lock and start incorporating it into our respective games.
